The present invention relates to the field of combinatorial chemistry and more particularly to the field of parallel catalyst testing, where a plurality of catalysts are simultaneously tested, for efficacy thereof, typically within parallel reactors. More particularly, the invention relates to an assembly for use in parallel sizing, dosing, and transferring of materials such as catalysts and the method of use thereof.
In the field of combinatorial chemistry within, for example, catalyst preparation and testing, there is a need for practical handling tools in the form of handling assemblies, that can be used during various manipulations and transfers of catalysts and/or samples thereof. The need for such equipment becomes pressing the moment the number of samples to be handled daily increases beyond a number of, for instance, 10 to 100, and becomes an absolute pre-requisite for combinatorial activities in general, when the number of samples to be tested increase beyond 1,000-10,000 or more per day.
Such assemblies can be used for transfer between various dedicated pieces of equipment, such as, for example, a parallel synthesis block, a parallel reactor, a parallel sample holder for analysis, and so forth. Such assemblies can also be designed to perform various operations on the samples, such as grinding and sizing of particles, as well as volumetric dosing of multiple samples, performed in parallel.
Fundamental to parallel handling/processing is that all activities, from preparation to final testing, be performed with a spatial format or footprint, such that all samples are identifiable by their position (spatially addressable format). Therefore all samples should maintain their positions, or easily be restorable to their original positions, during manipulations thereof.
The basic concept for the assembly of the present invention is to accommodate and perform all the normal steps in usual laboratory manipulation of a plurality of samples in a strictly parallel manner. With such assembly, the time consumed will, ideally, be the same for accommodating a large plurality of samples, as it would be for accommodation of a single sample. It is further a basic concept that various pieces or units can be combined creating modules of the assembly for performing a sequence of parallel handling steps in as few operations as possible, using the modules for parallel processing of the samples in an identifiable manner throughout processing.
The footprinted modules are formatted to a standard size, which may correspond to the commercial 48, 96, or 384 well format (or high-number standardized microplates), typically the industry standard for combinatorial equipment, to allow easy accommodation of commercially available equipment for use in processing.
During parallel processing all manipulations are performed with module units having identifiable (preferably identical) footprints, as opposed to serial manipulations of a single catalyst at a time, greatly enhancing efficiency of handling and manipulations and reducing the cost and time involved per experiment by several orders of magnitude.
As will be defined further hereinbelow, the assembly is modular with modules provided for grinding and sieving (sizing), precision volume dosing, transfer, etc., allowing for enhanced flexibility. For example, modules or units thereof can be modified or new modules or units created and incorporated should the need arise. Additionally, modules used, for example, in transfer, can be optimized/specialized. If transfer between different spatial formats becomes important, a format transform module could be incorporated into the handling assembly.
The description below will exemplify the invention as applied to grinding, sieving, dosing, transferring, etc., catalysts, but it is important to note that the invention may be used in conjunction with a wide range of other materials in addition to catalysts, such as, for example, catalyst precursors, catalyst supports, adsorbents, molecular sieves, zeolites, amorphous materials, ceramics, and pharmaceuticals. Further, samples of any of the above may be used as well, though this should not be construed as limiting.
Others have tried various techniques in parallel handling of materials, see WO 02/04121 (crushing and sieving a plurality of samples) and DE 19809477 A1 (loading device adapted for parallel transfer of catalysts to reactors through communication device), but the present invention provides a rapid, reliable, method and apparatus to introduce a substantially identical volume of a plurality of materials to an array of vessels.
According to the invention there is provided an assembly comprising interactive modules for substantially identically sizing, precision volume dosing and transferring of a plurality of materials simultaneously, in a spatially identifiable format, into, for example, an array of parallel reactors for testing the materials.
Further, according to the invention there is provided a method comprising the steps of:
obtaining a plurality of materials in a containment module wherein the materials are positioned in a spatially identifiable format;
when the materials need to be ground to a substantially similar particle size, transferring the materials to a sizing module;
grinding, separating and trapping ground particles of a predetermined size within the sizing module;
transferring the particles of predetermined size to a precision volume dosing module, from the sizing module;
trapping a precision volume dose of particles of each material in the dosing module;
eliminating any excess material from within the dosing module; and
transferring the precision volume doses of material to a reactor feed module for loading the materials into an array of parallel reactors while maintaining the spatially identifiable format.
Still further according to the invention there is provided a method comprising the steps of:
obtaining a plurality of materials of substantially similar predetermined particle size, in a containment module wherein the materials are positioned in a spatially identifiable format;
transferring the materials of predetermined size to a precision volume dosing module, from the containment module;
trapping a precision volume dose of each material in the dosing module;
eliminating any excess material from within the dosing module; and
transferring the precision volume doses of material to a vessel feed module for loading the materials into a parallel vessel while maintaining the spatially identifiable format.
Still further according to the invention there is provided an assembly comprising at least a containment module for containing a plurality of materials wherein each material is identifiable by its spatial orientation within the containment module; a precision volume dosing module for collecting from the containment module a precision volume of each material in a manner wherein spatial orientation is maintained, and a feed module by means of which the precision volume of each material is transferred to a feed conduit of the feed module, with a spatial orientation of the samples being maintained.
Yet further according to the invention there is provided an assembly comprising a containment module for containing a plurality of materials wherein each sample is identifiable by its spatial orientation within the containment module; a precision volume dosing module for collecting from the containment module a precision volume of each material in a manner wherein spatial orientation is maintained and a feed module by means of which the precision volume of each sample is transferred to a feed conduit feed module, with a spatial orientation of the samples being maintained. The assembly further includes a sizing module for use, when necessary, to provide particulate material with particles substantially identical in size, the sizing module receiving material from the containment module and providing particulate material of substantially identically sized particles to the precision volume dosing module.